Nazi extremists in the Free City, anxious to emulate their colleagues in Germany, have gained the upper hand in the municipal government.
The result has been a mounting wave of anti-Semitism and outright persecution of the Jews which, it is feared, must lead to the intervention of foreign Jewish organizations.
The disappearance from the Danzig government of Dr. Herman Rauschning, president of the Senate, is held to be an indication of extremist control, since Dr. Rauschning was a consistent advocate of moderation.
Jewish professionals are being discriminated against through the introduction of the “Aryan clause.”
The Danziger Vorposten, official organ of the Nazi-controlled Senate, is continually inciting against the Jews; leading Nazi officials deliver vitriolic speeches against the Danzig Jews; and Jewish workers are being deprived of their posts and of all means of earning a livelihood.
Thus, an article in the Vorposten about the “disastrous conditions in Danzig public and circulating libraries” resulted in widespread raids on all libraries and the confiscation of books by Jewish authors.
CIRCULATING LIBRARIES DENOUNCED
“The population of Danzig,” the Vorposten said, “will, it is hoped, patronize only those circulating libraries managed by responsible people. The place for crash and piffle is in the stove not in the hands of the public.”
Immediately after the article was published, Danzig libraries were raided by government officials.
The works of Franz Werfel, Stefan Zweig, Arnold Zweig, Emil Ludwig, Sholem Asch, Lion Feuchtwanger, Ernst Toller and many other noted Jewish writers were confiscated. Owners of libraries who protested were told to keep quiet on pain of losing their licenses.
Later the Danzig government ordered the formation of a State Chamber of Culture and sent out forms asking whether owners of libraries were members of the Nazi party and also whether they were of “Aryan” descent.
DENTISTS AT PRECIPICE
New regulations were issued by the Senate for dentists, making permission to practice dependent on the “leader” of the dentist’s group, a Nazi. It is feared here that in practice this will mean the ousting of all Jewish dentists.
A vile atack on the Jews was delivered here by Herr Schorris official labor commissioner for Danzig. Speaking to the employes of the Walter and Fleck department store, from which the Jewish owners were forced to withdraw, the labor commissioner declared that it is not fitting that a Nazi wait upon a Jewish customer, since “it is not appropriate for a human being to wait on a dog.”
SPEECH TOO INDECENT
Much of the speech was so indecent that even the Nazi paper refused to print it.
While the sale of Julius Streicher’s Der Stuermer, has been forbidden in Danzig, the Vorposten has taken over the Stuermer tradition.
Daily incitements against the Jews fill the Nazi paper and invitations to pogroms against the Jews are to be found on every page.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
